St. Paul Peterson - Blue Cadillac (1997)

Funk at it's funkiest, this Prince camp alumni dished up the grease on this release. St Paul was in Purple Rain, in the group The Time, and was the lead singer in Prince's group The Family.

There are many talented artists in the world of music, but only a few that have adeptly conquered the various areas of expertise necessary to be considered a consummate artist. Paul Peterson is such an artist. Peterson is the youngest son of a musical dynasty lovingly referred to as Minnesota's First Family of Music, based in Minneapolis, MN. Family matriarch and mother, the late Jeanne Peterson, an accomplished pianist and recording artist herself, raised her children with a keen eye to the future. Encouraging an ever-present musical ability in her children including Paul's siblings Billy, Linda, Patty and Ricky, Jeanne perhaps never imagined what her talented offspring, especially her youngest son Paul, would one day accomplish in the field of music.

Peterson was discovered at the young age of seventeen by the legendary artist Prince, and was designated to appear in his 1984 Academy Award Winning film Purple Rain as the new keyboard player in the chart topping R&B group The Time. Peterson's foray into the big leagues was under way at a rapid pace. He shortly thereafter contributed his keyboard prowess to the groups platinum album Ice Cream Castles (#24 pop), and the infectious single Jungle Love (#6 R&B/20 pop).

After the surprising disintegration of the group later that year, Prince, who had recognized Peterson's talent as a gifted vocalist during the filming of Purple Rain, recruited him to front the burgeoning new group, The Family, whose self-titled debut was released on Prince's expanding Paisley Park label. Peterson then shifted to the new moniker, St. Paul. Generating the popular singles The Screams Of Passion,(#9 R&B) High Fashion, (#34 R&B) and the original (and, arguably, the finest) version of the worldwide hit Nothing Compares 2 U (later popularized again by Sinead O'Connor) the album was released to critical acclaim in September of 1985.

With the eventual demise of The Family, St. Paul released his self-titled debut album on MCA Records in 1986, which yielded the United States R&B hit single Rich Man (#32, 1987) and Intimacy which was popular in many United Kingdom soul circles.

In 1990, Peterson released his second eagerly awaited solo CD, Down To The Wire on Atlantic Records. The first single, Stranger To Love, charted in the US pop top 40, while it's follow up Every Heart Needs A Home sold over two million copies as part of the film soundtrack to the box office hit Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

More recent releases consist of 1996's Blue Cadillac, a personal project created to satiate his many international fans, and a fiery live recording as a member of the funky Minneapolis All-Stars (other members including brother Ricky Peterson on Keyboards and Bonnie Raitt's brother, the late Steve Raitt on vocals) release Live At The Quest (1998 Go Jazz Records).

Though, as evidenced, Peterson is indeed a prestigious recording artist, but he has also been renown as a thrilling live performer complementing a richly diverse list of talented artists he has performed with. This impressive and ever-growing list includes Stevie Wonder, Steve Miller, Peter Frampton, Boz Scaggs, Lionel Richie, Reba McIntire, Kenny Loggins, The Beach Boys, Little Richard, Boy George, Kenny Loggins, Robert Palmer, David Sanborn and Dolly Parton to name but a few.

With his musical skills and contributions firmly established, Peterson has been and continues to be in high demand as a studio musician lending his musical chops to yet another impressive list of artists and their varied recording projects, a partial list including Jonny Lang, The Corrs, The Spice Girls, Neneh Cherry, Shannon Curfmann, Tuck & Patty, Anita Baker, Paula Abdul, Prince, Tevin Campbell, Sergio Mendes, David Sanborn, and George Benson and Brian Culbertson.

Continuing to make his mark as an international renown songwriter Peterson has recently penned wonderful material for recording artists BB Mak (Unpredictable, Next Time - platinum), Youngstown (Sugar first single) and Aussie Youth (Stay A While first single) and he continues to write material with a host of accomplished songwriters including Oliver Leiber (Opposites Attract, Forever Your Girl - Paula Abdul), Jon Lind (Save The Best For Last- Vanessa Williams, Boogie Wonderland - Earth Wind & Fire, Crazy For You- Madonna), Bunny Hull (New Attitude - Patti Labelle, Breakdance - Irene Cara), Richard Page (Broken Wings- Mr. Mister, I'll Remember - Madonna) and country music star Bryan White (Leann Rimes, Sawyer Brown).

Firmly proving himself behind the scenes, as a considerable force to be reckoned with, Peterson's production and performing talents continue to impress throughout films, television and CD-ROM media. His most notable credits include A Goofy Movie, Girl 6, Hoop Dreams, ESPN Boxing, Melrose Place, The Mayo Clinic Medical Guide (CD-ROM), the award winning documentary Vietnam-Long Time Coming, and most recently HBO's series America Undercover, and Bob Costas' new sports talk show, the theme song for KSTP's Sports Wrap and a recent role playing on and producing a track for the new Oleta Adam's CD.

Obviously a man on a mission, Peterson continues to embrace new musical challenges and is always searching for new ways to express his explosive creativity. He has in fact throughout his acclaimed career, expertly demonstrated himself to be a consummate artist-, studio musician, live performer, multi-instrumentalist (bass, keyboards, drums, guitar and vocals), songwriter, arranger, producer and musical director, with many more musical horizons ahead of him to explore.

During his increasingly limited, but much needed free time, Peterson regenerates by settling into his home in Minnesota and finding the much needed love and support from his family, the ever-expansive Peterson clan, and most importantly from his wife Julie and his two children.